In the IPL 2021 season opener between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore, several new faces made their debuts for their respective teams. Among the new players on display was young South African pace bowler Marco Jansen.
The 20-year-old speedster enjoyed a wonderful IPL debut for the defending champions. He picked up the wickets of Glenn Maxwell and Shahbaz Ahmed and conceded just 28 runs in his four-over spell. Jansen followed that up with yet another solid showing against two-time IPL winners Kolkata Knight Riders. Despite going wicketless in his two overs, he managed to keep things tight at the back.
Former New Zealand batsman Scott Styris has been impressed by Marco Jansen’s performances for Mumbai Indians so far in IPL 2021. However, despite the South African youngster's good start, Styris believes the Mumbai Indians made a mistake by signing Jansen up for this year’s IPL.
“But in some ways, I think this is a bad move for Mumbai Indians to pick up Marco Jansen right now, because now, as we are doing, we are talking about it, everybody is talking about it,” said Styris.
This doesn’t bode well for the five-time IPL champions since a mega-auction is scheduled ahead of IPL 2022 and Jansen’s shares will be considerably higher by then. Styris believes it will be hard for Mumbai Indians to bring Marco Jansen back as they’ll have to pay a lot more to secure his services.
“And with the possibility of a major auction next year, I think Mumbai may have to suddenly pay up big bucks because they are not going to keep him. So, I would suggest, to think a little bit long-term, maybe put him on the ice this year and Mumbai Indians could have swept in next year and had him for a long time like Lasith Malinga,” Scott Styris added.
Styris was extremely impressed by the South African’s bowling exploits in the first match against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
“I thought it was a phenomenal performance. I thought he was incredibly impressive and the reason for that is not about the simple factor that he gets bounce because he is six foot eight, which is what you expect. He touched 143mph, which is a serious pace. He is going to get bounce if he has got pace,” Styris said while speaking on the Star Sports show Cricket Connect.
Scott Styris also believes the slower-ball variations will work wonders for Marco Jansen in IPL 2021.